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Advice on cloth diapers ???

Last week, I got a phone call inquiring about my home daycare. After answering a few questions, mom told me that her son uses cloth diapers and if I accepted them. I was not prepared to answer her because in all 13 years of daycare, I never cared for a child who used them. They all used disposable ones.

We will be meeting this thursday and I wanted to know if anyone could give me any advice or experiences on cloth diapers. I am sure it will be brought up and I would like to be prepared this time around Thank you

I used cloth on my kids so it wasn't such a big deal for me. They are really quite simple to use and not a lot of work. I actually prefer them to disposable so that parents take home the stinky dipes and I don't have to put them in my garbage.

Some things to consider, though:
*I require a wetbag with a zipper to contain smells. Even still, the bag is sometimes stinky.
*To wash the diapers (which you will not be doing), you need to shake the solids (poo) off first. I don't do this as a rule. I don't have time and not my job imho. I just stick everything, wipes included, in the bag.
*I would ask for regular wipes (not cloth). Unless you have time to wet cloths before each change.

You can't leave a child in cloth for too long before it leaks. So, if you have a solid napper of 3 hours, this would be pushing a cloth diaper to capacity. After cleaning out pack n plays too many times I now request disposables for naps for kids 18+ months. Not a big deal throughout the day. We generally don't have leaks. If the diapers are leaking, there is not enough absorbency and the parent needs to sort that out. If they are using pocket diapers, this is as simple as adding in another soaker.

If you have never used cloth before, and you are open to it, I would offer a trial period so if you aren't comfortable you can opt out.

Thank you nschildcare for your reply. I have never used cloth diapers and every time I thought about it, I remember the ones my mom use to where back in the days, with those huge steel pins. I have been on-line too and the idea of using a disposable one for naps is a good idea. I will give it a try like you said, It doesn't seem too complicated. As long as she doesn't expect me to wash them.

I too used them for my own children; however have never had any DCKs who used them. I would be more than happy to take any who use them; to be honest, I cringe every time I put a bag of diapers in our garbage bin....at how many diapers we all add to landfill daily.
They are very easy to deal with; once you get in the swing of things. With being fortunate to get our cloth diapers second hand and 2 boys...it saved us so much money!
A tip for nap time...you can always simply put 2 cloth diapers on, one over the other...or, often parents will have covers (I used to use one at nighttime for mine).

Children are great imitators.
So give them something great to imitate.

I have a daycare child using them, and I find them a nuisance. These ones have disposable liners that look like Bounce dryer sheets as well as a cloth pad for parents to wash. The parents told me to put the liners in the toilet after a bowel movement, but my low flush toilets get clogged with them. I have to put a mushy chunk of feces in the garbage can, which I find unhygenic, and the smell is terrible in the garbage, because there is nothing to wrap it in like you would with a disposable. Lot of leaking, and I find this child prone to yeast infections even with 5-6 changes a day.

I've never had any child in cloth before but I find it is becoming more popular so I will be keeping an eye on this thread.

I know a mom who cloth diapers but she has said that when her son goes to daycare she will most likely buy disposables for the dcp. In the last centre I worked at, a parent asked about cloth diapers and I am pretty sure she was told no, for sanitary reasons. However, that was in a centre with a lot more children than a hdc.

I was going to use cloth with my daughter but quickly switched to disposable. I didn't like them.

I had a parent ask me about doing cloth at daycare. My answer was NO. Of course she tried to assure me how easy it was etc. It isn't something I was prepared to do. I don't have space for a bag with their child's dirty diapers and I am not running upstairs every time to put the diapers in a pail outside either. Disposable all the way here!

If all I had to do differently was put them into a bag for the parents, I would give it a try. I hate to think about all the diapers that get thrown out. I always wished I had done that for my own kids.

One of my families uses cloth diapers and it is great! They provide a wet bag and stuff the liners into the diaper and have them ready to go for me. It is zero extra work compared to disposable. I don't flush anything unless it's a very solid poop and falls off the diaper easily. Just tell the family that you are happy to use disposables but that the diapers must be snapped up, lined, and anything else that needs to be done so they are ready to go. Tell them that you need a clean wet bag for everyday and that they must take the old one home. Tell them that you will out the dirty diapers in the wetbav but you don't clean them. Good luck with your interview!

I have one family using cloth diapers. They cause no more work then a disposable. The family sends them in with the cloth liner already in. I change the diaper, put it in the wet bag and send it home. They do leak sometimes, once a week or so but other then that they are great!